The innocent faces of Korean boys in the late 19th century / Robert Neff Collection

Anna Northend Benjamin’s observations and venomous pen were not confined to just Korean women; she also commented on the lives of Korean children — more specifically, boys.

“Korean children are the least fortunate, or the most fortunate — according to one’s point of view — of any children of the Far East, for in this hermit kingdom education is not compulsory, and the average small boy or girl grows up with little instruction,” she bombastically declared.

She described the children’s homes as nothing more than “a little hut with mud walls,” its roof thatched with straw which was held in place by ropes stretched across and tied down. Many of these homes had only a single room — about nine square meters — and their walls were covered with plaster and paper and the floor layered with matting — thin and coarsely woven. “The ceiling is low; it would be considered a waste of time and material to make it of any height, for the people who live in this little house rarely stand up in it.” The floor, she explained, was used to sit on during the day and to sleep on at night — the room and house had no other function except storage.

Early Westerners frequently referred to Korea as “the land of naked children.” Robert Neff Collection

In an almost backhanded compliment, she praised the homes as being very warm, “even during the severe cold of the winter” — and noted Japanese and Chinese homes were, in contrast, quite cold. Korean homes were thoroughly heated by the ondol system, a series of flues beneath the floor that carried warm air and smoke from the kitchen fire. But there were drawbacks to this system — smoke and intense heat could sometimes be hard to regulate.

“The fire is often so hot that Koreans are sometimes blistered by it while asleep in the night, and since it is also used for the family cooking, it is kept throughout the summer when the heat is great,” she described.

Benjamin then turned her attention to the appearance of Korean boys and their white clothing: “[His] outfit consists of loose trousers stuck into heavy socks padded with cotton wool all the year round. The rest of his clothes are also padded in this way in winter. A short loose jacket with full sleeves completes his costume.”

While this description was relatively accurate, it contrasted........

© The Korea Times